Creativity for Humans

John Kitses and I are going to have a two person show based on our subway sketches at E77 in Jackson Heights, Queens. The opening is 6-9PM on March 16. Come celebrate art and the NYC subway system with us! E77 is a creative space in Jackson Heights which combines art gallery, music venue, and restaurant/cafe. The owners are architects, and one of them is a painter, so it's set up to display visual art.

We're calling the show Subway Series. In this case, it's not a series of baseball games between the Mets and the Yankees, it's a series of artworks based on drawings of people on the New York Subway. That's John's head down at the end of the train as he sketches while standing.

Yesterday, we rode the 7 train starting in Jackson Heights to the end of the line at Hudson Yards, then back into Queens to Flushing, and ending up back in Jackson Heights. The whole way we drew people we saw. The subway is a natural subject for us. It's the circulatory system of this metropolis, the place all of us come together, and it's a place we spend significant chunks of our lives. Might was well turn it into art, both to celebrate it, and to give us something interesting to do while we ride, right?

John and I use different approaches. He starts sketching in pencil, and then lays ink down over the graphite. I work directly with ink, using whatever marker I've got with me. Above is a sample of John's pencil sketching.

Here's an example of one of his inked drawings (this one of me, as I sketch him!).

I'm going to collage my drawings (or prints of them) onto painted textures like the above canvas. John is still figuring out how he's going to show his work.

People are often so lost in their own worlds on the subway, it's usually easy to find someone to draw. This one is one of mine. You may wonder why John and I are doing the show together. When the co-owner of E77 offered me show awhile back, I asked him if I could include John---I love his work, and I like collaborating with people. See you on the subway! And I hope at E77

Zzzzzzz...This show guaranteed to keep you awake. This guy could use a little wakeup in his life! Don't be like him! Come to the opening!